The Princess of Polka Dots: Yayoi Kusama
Basic information
Name: Yayoi Kusama (草间弥生)
Date of Birth: 22 March 1929
Current age: 88 years old
Place of Birth: Matsumoto, Nagamo, Japan
Childhood
Born to a wealthy family, Yayoi Kusama began to display an exceptional interest in the arts at an early age, and even created art pieces of her own. Unlike most parents, Kusama’s mother and father were not affectionate towards her. It was reported that her mother frequently neglected the young Kusama.
In other instances that caused her emotional pain, the young Kusama was asked by her mother to spy on her father, who had affairs with other women. The things that she saw made a strong and lasting impact in her mind that led her to have a negative impression about copulation. In her own words she described how she was traumatized by these experiences:
“I don’t like sex. I had an obsession with sex. When I was a child, my father had lovers and I experienced seeing him. My mother sent me to spy on him. I didn’t want to have sex with anyone for years… The sexual obsession and fear of sex sit side by side in me.”
Kusama began to paint at the age of 10, which was also when she first started experiencing hallucinations. They appeared to her as dots and patterns that encompassed her surroundings. These ‘visions/ hallucinations’ later contributed towards her works, and played a very important role in her career.
At the age of just 13, she was sent to work at a military factory during World War II. Her main duty involved sewing parachutes for the Japanese army. Life was tough for a young child such as Kusama, and she lived her life in darkness and fear. Later in 1948, she decided to study the traditional Japanese art form of Nihongo painting at the Kyoto Municipal School of Arts and Crafts. Nihongo paintings made according to traditional Japanese artistic conventions, materials and painting techniques. However, she soon became bored of such traditional art, and began to develop an interest towards Western and European art instead.
“My mother beat me and kicked me on the derriere every day, irritated that I was always painting…When I left for New York, my mother gave me $1,000,000 yen and told me never to set foot in her house again.”
Works
Polka dots, or what Kusama calls ‘infinity nets’, have become an important theme in her works. Originally taken from her visions or hallucinations, they were later transplanted into her works.
In regards to polka dots, Kusama says:
“A polka dot has the form of the sun, which is a symbol of the energy of the whole world and our living life, and also the form of the moon, which is calm. Round, soft, colourful, senseless and unknowing. Polka dots become movement… Polka dots are a way to infinity.”
These dots first made their appearance in her early artworks that were created when she was 10 years old. A particular drawing depicts a picture of a Japanese woman wearing a kimono (believed to be Kusama’s mother), and the woman was covered with dots. Polka dots and sequences of nets are the main patterns that were incorporated in most of her large scale paintings, and all of these are thought to have come directly from her hallucinations.
Painting has been a huge part of Kusama’s life, and it is because of the arts that she was able to make it through all the abuse and neglect from her parents. She has even stated that if it wasn’t for the arts, she would have taken her own life. She sees being able to paint as a form of escape from ‘reality’, and through this is able to be temporarily relieved from all the pressure she faces.
She has described that when she creates art, without planning or thinking, her hand would automatically start painting, and that every single time she is amazed with the end results.
Kusama’s comment on one of her paintings entitled: “Flower (D.S.P.S)”, completed in 1954 reads:
“One day I was looking at the red flower patterns of the tablecloth on a table, and when I looked up I saw the same pattern covering the ceiling, the windows and the walls, and finally all over the room, my body and the universe. I felt as if I had begun to self-obliterate, to revolve in the infinity of endless time and the absoluteness of space, and be reduced to nothingness. As I realized it was actually happening and not just in my imagination, I was frightened. I knew I had to run away lest I should be deprived of my life by the spell of the red flowers. I ran desperately up the stairs. The steps below me began to fall apart and I fell down the stairs straining my ankle.”
Flower (D.S.P.S)
Kusama left Japan for the United States at the age of 27. There she exhibited her paintings at the Zoe Dussane Gallery in Seattle, Washington. She settled in Seattle for about a year before moving to New York City. With her iconic wigs and avant-garde outfits, her artistic presence was soon made known to the New York City crowd, and she very quickly became the center of attention.
It was there that she continued with her series of iconic infinity mirror installations, creating rooms full of mirrors that gave people the illusion of a never ending universe. She worked furiously in hopes of bringing her artwork and unique concepts to the world. However, due to the strain of often overworking herself, she was hospitalised on numerous occasions.
Over the years, she achieved great success as an artist, and her passion towards the arts is undeniable. Following a series of illnesses, she returned to Japan in 1973. There she underwent surgery to cure her thyroid disease, and to remove fibroids from her uterus. She also received a series of treatments for depersonalization syndrome. This syndrome is part of a group of conditions known as dissociative disorders. Symptoms of depersonalisation syndrome include feeling disconnected or detached from one’s body or thoughts, to the extent that a person feels like he or she is has out-of-body experiences, observing himself or herself from outside the body, or the feeling of being in a dream. However those that suffer from this syndrome do not lose contact with reality. In fact they understand that things are not how they appear to them.
Though the exact cause of the syndrome still evades modern science, it is believed that it can be caused by intensely stressful or traumatic events. In the case of Kusama, some believe that this was due to the abuse and neglect she faced as a child, including being made to spy for her mother on her father’s extramarital affairs. This trauma, could have led to this disorder, could also be the cause of her visions, which translated into her work and made her a world-famous artist. Kusama admitted herself to a psychiatric hospital, and has resided at the facility up until today. From there, she continues to paint and create world-class art from a studio she set up across the street from the psychiatric hospital. Today she is considered in Japan a living art legend and her celebrity status is large. She is still healthy, going strong and working on her art. Her art is her sanity and sanity is art. She is a powerful person, immensely talented, fiercely in control of no control and she inspires us that if we find something beneficial in life, all pain is somehow bearable if not redeemable. Ms.Yayoi Kusama helps us to question what is sanity and what is insanity. Strong edgy people like her have always attracted me. To be different is not different, but perhaps just normal. Even in her ‘insanity’ she does more, creates more, inspires more and is more productive than those of us classified as sane. Everyone has talents. Are we willing to pay the price for productivity and usefulness in life?
Tsem Rinpoche
(Researched and compiled by Ms. Beatrix Ooi)
Some of Kusama’s artworks
Mushrooms, 1995, Yayoi Kusama
All the Eternal Love, Yayoi Kusama
Untitled, 1967, Yayoi Kusama
A Tale in Blue is Filled With My Life, 2009, Yayoi Kusama
Give Me Love, Yayoi Kusama
Vegetables, Yayoi Kusama
Flame, 1992, Yayoi Kusama
Pumpkin, 1992, Yayoi Kusama
Untitled, Yayoi Kusama
Untitled, Yayoi Kusama
Timeline
| 1929 | Born in Nagano-Ken, Japan |
| 1948 | Entered senior class at the Kyoto Municipal School of Arts & Crafts, Kyoto, Japan |
| 1948–1951 | Studied at the Arts and Crafts School, Kyoto, Japan |
| 1957 | Moved to Seattle, USA |
| 1957–1958 | Studied at the Art Students’ League, New York, USA |
| 1966 | Became a US Citizen |
| 1967 | Won the Fourth Belgium International Short Film Prize |
| 1968 | Won an award for ‘Self-Obliteration’ at the 4th International Festival for Short-Films in Belgium |
| 1973 | Returned to Japan, and published poems and novels. |
| 1982 | Won the golden prize from the Italian Academy of Arts |
| 1983 | Received the Literary Magazine Prize Yasei Jidai for her novel Christopher Homosexual Brother |
| 1996 | Received the International Art Critic Association prize for an exhibit in New York |
| 2000 | Received the Education Minister’s Art Encouragement Prize and the Foreign Minister’s commendations |
| 2001 | Received the Asahi Prize |
| 2003 | Received Ordre des Arts et des Lettres |
| Current | Lives and works in Tokyo, Japan |
Some of her famous installations
Infinity Dots Mirrored Room
The Souls of Millions of Light Years Away
Phalli’s Field
I’m Here, But Nothing
Thousands of Eyes
Guidepost to the New Space
All the Eternal Love I have for the Pumpkins
Aftermath of Obliteration of Eternity
Love is Calling
The Obliteration Room
Pictures of Yayoi Kusama
Yayoi Kusama: The Princess of Polka Dots
Or view the video on the server at:
https://video.tsemtulku.com/videos/KusamaPolkaDots.mp4
Yayoi Kusama: The Earth Is a Polka Dot
Or view the video on the server at:
https://video.tsemtulku.com/videos/KusamaEarthIsAPolkaDot.mp4
Yayoi Kusama: Let’s Fight Together
Or view the video on the server at:
https://video.tsemtulku.com/videos/KusamaLetsFightTogether.mp4
Step Into Infinity With Yayoi Kusama
Or view the video on the server at:
https://video.tsemtulku.com/videos/KusamaIntoInfinity.mp4
Yayoi Kusama Holds Landmark Exhibition in US
Or view the video on the server at:
https://video.tsemtulku.com/videos/KusamaUSExhibition.mp4
Sources:
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yayoi_Kusama
- http://www.artnet.com/artists/yayoi-kusama/biography
For more interesting information:
- Srinivasa Ramanujan – The Mystical Mathematician
- Jiddu Krishnamurti- The Freedom Fighter
- The Life of Yul Brynner (1920 – 1985)
- 16 Unique Places in Japan
- The Art of Thangka Painting
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Very Inspire article of an artist, Art have been more than a hobby to the Princess of Polka Dots, Yayoi Kusama. It was her burning passion that lighted the fire in her soul. With so much of struggle since young, and her positive attitude empowered and engaged her to learn the skill professionally. Her creativity contribution was well received and benefited many all over the world.
As for Yayoi Kusama art was a great escape, a way to be free of the troubles, worries, and horrors in life. Thank you for this valuable teaching and for the fantastic compilation of info and photos. Well., I am fascinated on polka dots art especially on clothing.
https://bit.ly/3mqNcla
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing with us the story of Ms.Yayoi Kusama. She certainly did not have a very pleasant childhood. Even though she was born in a wealthy family, she didn’t have the love from her parents. She was neglected and was mentally abused when the mother sent her to spy on the father.
There is a Chinese saying that the childhood experience/education is what will determine how this child will become when he/she grows up. This is exactly what happened to Ms. Yayoi Kusama. Her parents did not give love and trust to her which resulted in her being anti-social and even suffering from mental illness. However, she did not let her mental illness stop her from becoming a successful person. She found her way to express her emotions and feelings without causing pain to other people. In fact, her way of expressing herself brings positive experiences to people.
I actually don’t think Ms. Yayoi Kusama is that insane. Most of the insane persons will not admit they are insane. But Ms. Yayoi Kusama checked herself into a psychiatric hospital and continue to paint. I think she just does not trust people enough to have a normal interaction with people. Checking in to a psychiatric hospital she does not have to deal with people but only the nurses and doctors. She is one of those rare cases where her bad experience did not bring her down but make her successful in her field.
Yayoi Kusama is truly a genius in her work. I wonder whether she is perceiving other dimensions intertwined into the dimension we’re in. Nonetheless, her artworks are outrageously phenomenal.
I agree with what Rinpoche wrote above. “…she inspires us that if we find something beneficial in life, all pain is somehow bearable if not redeemable.” This is very insightful and it makes so much sense. Pain is only bearable when there is hope for something better to come. That is why it is always important to give hope to others with kindness and compassion. For without hope, there is no better reason to bear the pain.
In this case, Yayoi Kusama focuses on her love for polka dots regardless of the pain she felt from her parents and made it iconic.
Yayoi Kusama’s work is remarkable. This is what i see in her work – a misery and distressed childhood, lost, obsessive, therapy, healing and enthusiasm. Her work reflects her inner voice, it was said in one of the videos that it was her subconsciousness which drove her work. Usually our subconscious tells us the truth. Kusama healed from creating art pieces from day to night, not many people could transform their sadness and disappointment into something else that makes them succeed, Kusama did it through her persistency and great faith in herself. It seems like she is obsessive with her work, but this obsessiveness actually is her alternative way of healing herself. Though she went through darkness in her childhood, her work brings colors to others’ life.
Yayoi Kusama is quite an unusual person, she has transformed her disorder, anger and frustrations into amazing polka dots art. I think this is how she sees the world and wanted it to be like. Polka Dots art makes everything looks like a fairy tales, perhaps Yayoi Kusama felt safer with all the polka dots around her. She has work very hard and never gives up her passions, and i think many could share the same feeling and though with her.
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing this interesting article. The art pieces and exhibits are really beautiful, and when looked at, it has the therapeutic effect to me. I think one of the important message here is that when are have illness, we must find a way to solve it. We cannot just put it aside and not treat it. But at the same time, there are still things we can do (while we are having “issues”) to benefit others.
What Rinpoche wrote in the last paragraph is very profound and deep. In samsara, what we are taught as “normal” is no longer normal in Dharma.
Thank you Rinpoche for this beautifully inspiring article on Yayoi Kusama, a lady with such amazing artistic talents. Kusama was not cowed or in any way diminished by a painful and traumatic childhood and from abuse and neglect by her parents, even though the emotional pain and stress had left a mark on her mind. She subsequently suffered severe “dissociative disorders”.
Her disorder translated into her visions, which in turn translated into her superbly creative work and made her a world-famous artist.
She admitted herself into a psychiatric hospital which has been her home to this day. Strangely enough,it may be her feeling of being disconnected or detached from her body and her thoughts, to the extent that she feels like she is outside her body observing herself from outside , makes her see and understand the reality of how things are not what they appear to be.
Out of her hallucinations and visions, she developed a fascination for polka dots which was transplanted into her art work and her designs for clothes. She sees polka dots as symbolic of the sun and the moon, their energy and their form.
Her passion for art saved her from spiralling into depression and suicide. Art was a form of escape from the harsh realities of her life.Through art, she was able to have a firm hold of her sanity.Through art, she has benefited the world. She is indeed a source of inspiration for all of us, for her ability to transcend her pain and become an artist of renown.Indeed, we are left to wonder if she is a saner being than an ordinary so-called sane person, leading an ordinary life.” Whatever it is, she has been productive and useful, and has contributed much to the world of art
.”To be different is not different, but perhaps just normal”. Tsem Rinpoche
Somehow reading this article, the phrase “when life gives you lemon, you make lemonades” comes to mind. Ms. Kusama’s unique imagery spring from the recurring hallucinations that have haunted her since childhood and intensified by her traumatic childhood. In her hallucinations, the world appeared as covered by dots and repetitive shapes, like an infinite starry sky. From her explanation of polka dots, they seem to be a source of hope for her and they are defined as something positive for her. And she turned such visions into a reality by channelling it via arts which have been her passion from young to anchor her life.
Her reaction to her stumbling upon the concept of self-obliteration, where the idea of the disappearance of self and becoming one with the surroundings (via her polka dots observations) is very interesting. It has to be borne in mind that, just the complexity of concept itself (as if touching on some semblance of embracing emptiness) would confuse many and generally the masses fear and do not respond well to things they do not understand. Perhaps the inability to really comprehend the intensity and depth of such concept and the unconventional feeling it invokes, causes much anxiety and doubts that she felt the need to check herself into a psychiatric hospital. When one lack the understanding and wisdom, we tend to benchmark ourselves against society’s norm, primarily stemming from the habituated need to belong or emotionally connect to or be accepted by the majority. It appears that her inability to reconcile with societal norms in relation to her insights with polka dots coupled with the emotional childhood scars have overwhelmed her to the point she is unable to trust her own sanity (as well as her ability) and concede to lifelong of psychiatric care.
That being said, apart from a little stigma from society due to her voluntary submission to psychiatric care, she is, for all intent and purposes, none for worse considering that she is courageously living her life and indulging in her passion instead of faltering under the weight of such anxiety and self-doubt. Instead of wallowing in her scary predicament, she forges on, immersing herself in her passion and has met with huge successes. Evidently, there are loads of people losing themselves and find much pleasure in the infinite nets, mirror rooms and thousands of polka dots of Ms.Kusama’s creation. Her unconventional artwork apparently resonates to many and she is even one of the world’s most beloved artists. Thank you, Rinpoche and Beatrix, for such a fascinating read.
Interesting polka dotted art, I see she also does installation art as well.
I think artists can really help to push boundaries of what we can appreciate. So before such art pieces came into the scene, most people may not have enjoyed polka dotted paintings.
This is truly an inspiring piece that caught my attention! From adversity to diversity of the mind. From weakness to strength and success. As long we think out of the box and positively, we can use our passion and talent in something and make it a success to paycheck! Ms Kusama’s art is very special. It brings light and happiness to our soul.
Thank you Rinpoche and Beatrix for this wonderful artistic and inspiring story._/\_
Yayoi Kusama is a very talented artist ..it could be her up bringing taht made a strong and powerful lady which she descibed,expressed it in her works of polka Dots.Painting has been a huge part of Kusama’s life.Its through painting she feels her pain and sufferings she has experienced much earlier will eased.Her paintings were really beautiful i can see from these article.
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing and teachings for us to make use of what we are good at,to benefits others.Whatever it is have a positive thinking.
Thanks Ms. Beatrix Ooi for the research and for compiling.
Maybe to many people, Yayoi Kusama is just a fashion legend. But Rinpoche in His ability to see the worth and value of everyone brings the meaning of Kusama to us through this article. To me, I find the statement by Rinpoche “To be different is not different, but perhaps just normal. Even in her ‘insanity’ she does more, creates more, inspires more and is more productive than those of us classified as sane. Everyone has talents. Are we willing to pay the price for productivity and usefulness in life?” is the essence of this teaching. Despite her condition and childhood trauma, Kusama continues to create work that represents what she wanted to express. In other words, she did not indulge in any poor me excuse but channel her focus on creation. Yayoi Kusama pales us. We should drop our fancy excuses and start focusing on what we can do to be productive. Thank you, Rinpoche, for this valuable teaching and thank you, Beatrix, for the fantastic compilation of info and photos. While I am not a big fan of polka dots, I do appreciate the consistency in Kusama’s art expression throughout the space. It has a strong sense of obsession that just blends in.